A bit over sixteen years ago a popular right-wing milblogger said a few mildly critical things about the war in Iraq. As you could guess his comments section blew sixteen gaskets, but they gave him a little slack since he was a big name in the right-o-sphere and a founding editor at RedState. He could have taken the hint and dialed it down a notch, but of course being a typical ‘eers fan he told his whole readership and his web-ring of friends and colleagues to shove it up their tail pipe. Then he brought on a raving liberal co-blogger to piss them off all over again.
And like that I went from writing not great diaries at Daily Kos to being the #2 guy on a pretty popular Republican blog. What’s it like to be a socialist writing for people who mostly thought I was Hitler’s grandkid? My second post (after “hi”) wasn’t exactly a fig leaf. Honestly, we all got along fine. It turns out John cultivates an interesting group of readers worth engaging even back then.
Believe me, interesting readers wasn’t something you took for granted. I’m old enough to remember the free-thinking ideals that chat rooms like the Atlantic used to cultivate, but even in 2005 that was mostly seen as quaint and outdated, especially in right-blogs. A place like RedState or or Gateway or Powerline saw (see) themselves more as propaganda amplifiers. Management took a toddlerish pride in deleting anything in the comments that stepped on the day’s message. Of course doing that empowers the true-believingest, knee-jerkingest commenters, and like that every blog became Parler. Honestly I don’t even know what the commenters got out of that, aside from some animalistic thrill in seeing who can me-too the loudest.
I want to emphasize this point because even as a right-wing blogger John stood out for having this old-timey faith that readers can defend their own ideas without management’s help. Liberals like me could drop in, say our piece, and win or lose an argument with the local crowd (I did both). True believers screamed bloody murder of course, but as far as I could tell he thought those guys were insecure and boring anyway. It takes a lot of confidence to run a joint where anyone can say anything that doesn’t cross the red line (racism/sexism/abuse, then as now), and it takes serious balls to listen to those arguments and publicly change your mind.
Since I joined pretty early on, I got to see that slow growing horror when converts from the dark side start to realize that they’re rooting for a party who’d lose a game of horse to the Washington Generals. It is tough to leave the side that’s backed by media megacorps and bottomless funding for comms training, and join people who mean well but bring a banana split to the OK Corral. It was honestly an incredible moment when we discovered the one-secret-trick that powers a surprising amount of the right’s success (call your Reps!), and then it was dispiriting again when the hack got patched by electing a couple swing votes from WV and AZ who sincerely don’t care what constituents think. The lord giveth and taketh away.
The one lasting thing I still feel great about is inviting on a couple of frighteningly smart writers in David and Tom who’ve made this place one of the better informed spots on the internet. These guys are sincerely amazing.
Anhow, I know you all have one really important question.
He’s doing ok! Dogs the size of Max don’t chase balls much at twelve years old, but he plays a mean game of tug. Max has a good appetite and most things still work the way they should, except that his hips have gotten pretty weak. So these days the neighborhood knows Max as that big Doberman who still politely checks everyone for treats but he moves just a hair faster than the tectonic plate that Pittsburgh sits on. When the weather allows he still holds down our little patch of lawn grass for as long as the sun shines on it.
We love him, and he patiently puts up with us.
***Update***
As long as I’m getting sentimental about my big goofball dog, this four sentence open thread might be my favorite thing I’ve ever written.
Comment letter on the Georgia 1332 Waiver
Baud
Max!
Gin & Tonic
Max! Thanks for that.
JCJ
I am not a dog person but it is great to see Max! He looks like a complete sweetie!
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
And some folks complain about a “party line that must be enforced” in the Balloon J comments! At least Cole isn’t deleting comments.
WaterGirl
Tim! Hey, Max!
Great to see you both!
cbear
Hey Tim, long time no see.
It’s great to see and hear about Max again–we all kind of grew up with him through the many, many great pics and updates you posted through the years.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Thanks for dropping by. I’ve enjoyed your contributions all these years.
Benw
YAY MAX
WaterGirl
Wow, you brought in David Anderson and Tom Levenson??? You are a most excellent talent scout!
It’s really great seeing you here, and i love hearing your perspective from that time!
As I was looking for the old classic posts, I came across several of your Deep Thought posts.
You are missed. I know you’re super busy, but even a once-a-month or every-so-often Deep Thought post from you would make me happy.
Lifeinthebonusround
I second WaterGirl’s wish, Tim!
Elizabelle
Max! Wants you to blog here more often. He knows he has a fan base.
Elizabelle
Wait, what? RedState? Explainer, please.
TaMara (HFG)
Hi Max!! Age is just a number, but joint pain is real. And hi, Tim, too… ?
(and you didn’t ask, but we have had great luck with CBD oil – with NO THC, by vet’s recommendation. And I have an excellent person who ships and is involved from growing to packaging her product)
WaterGirl
Hard to believe you passed on the opportunity to razz Cole about peak wingnut. I will have to make do with loving this from your Peak Cole post (linked in the sidebar):
mrmoshpotato
Look at that boopable snout!
WaterGirl
@TaMara (HFG): Is that still the Lichen Livin person, or do you use someone else now?
CaseyL
Hi, Tim! *waves excitedly* So good to see you again!
And: MAX! Hi, handsome!
Thank you for that reminiscence – and I second, third, and so on requests that you do a Guest Post every now and then.
Matt McIrvin
There were still some self-identified conservative front-pagers here when I came in. Eventually they did decamp to some other place.
cope
Nice to read one of your pieces here again and get a pup update. Don’t be a stranger.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: I love Max.
There’s kind of a serious Uncle Sam Wants You look about Max in that second photo, don’t you think?
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: Tim still has the keys, no need for a Guest Post. He just doesn’t use them often enough. :-)
WaterGirl
@Tim up top
Comment from Amir in that thread:
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Uncle Sam Wants YOU To Boop This Snout!
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: There should be a post on some of the front-pagers who, how shall I say, didn’t fit in very well. So we can laugh at them again.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: I laughed out loud and scared the cat.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: That would be unkind, so I don’t think I can do that.
I could, however, put up a post about which front-pagers people miss the most, and since it’s a free country – hopefully that can still be true forever – anyone could chime in and say whatever thy like.
Maybe that’s what we should do for the final anniversary post?
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato:
I would so like that to be a rotating tag, but you and I would be the only ones who would understand it.
TaMara (HFG)
@WaterGirl: Still her. I really like her. It helps that she’s local, for me, and is very responsive to questions.
Just seen miracles with 18 yr old Emma. And kept Bixby mobile with all his inflammation issues.
Scout injured herself and the vet had me do a few days of caprofen and then follow up with a week of the CBD – she just emphasizes that whatever CBD used can’t have THC in it – and Lichen Livin has something like .003 (all CBD has some in it), so it’s safe.
oldster
“…people who mostly thought I was Hitler’s grandkid?”
There’s nothing to be gained by that sort of inflammatory hyperbole.
They thought you were *Lenin’s* grandkid.
Betty Cracker
Awww, sweet Max! So good to see him (and you too, Tim). :)
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: That thread with Amir’s comment was a day before Yanukovych forces fired on protesters in Kyiv, killing many and leading to the collapse of his government within days – and likely prompting some, um, heated exchanges with BiP. I’m not going to go trawling for those. Some doors are best left closed.
Ken
@oldster: No, this was long enough ago that comparing someone to Hitler wasn’t considered praise
(Should probably add the sarcasm tag…)
Matt McIrvin
@Gin & Tonic: But enough about Freddie.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
There was someone else I remember whose posts didn’t really go over well. Can’t recall the name though.
scav
Front pagers of the past, sure, but what about a front pagers pets retrospective?! I mean, this is BJ.
dp
Thanks for the Max update.
rodwell
I have been a reader (a.k.a. lurker) for a long time. I found Ballon Juice around 2006/2007, when I was going all over the blogosphere. The posts and especially comments always made me smarter. I am a liberal but I use to check out conservative sites back then and I agree with Tim F that the comment section on those sites was just to confirm the talking point of the day. Stop visiting because what is the point. Listening to different point of views is how you learn and come to a better opinion. I appreciate this site allowing me to feel optimistic about this country and provides me with a mean to make a difference (i.e, contributing to the thermometers). I need to comment more but I do feel like I am part of this place.
feebog
Thanks for checking in Tim. And many thanks for the pictures of Max. Don’t be such a stranger.
gvg
I really want to reread the post where John broke from republicans.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: BIP is not something I would go out of my way to find.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Just go look at the Past Authors page and it will come to you.
Jackie
Tim F. and Max!!!
I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember when I first started reading/lurking BJ; I was desperately looking for sane conservative points of view regarding Bush’s wet dream of invading Iraq and found BJ late 2002/early 2003 – prior to the 3/20/03 beginning of the war. When Tim started posting counter-arguments to Cole’s POV and didn’t get run off the blog, I was hooked for life.
Prior to Tim’s posting, Cole’s Tunch stories and late at night rants kept me entertained, even while getting more and more dismayed by the realization Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld were going to invade Iraq NO. MATTER. WHAT.
Ohio Mom
@Elizabelle: Yes, that caught my attention too — Cole helped start Red State? This is water way over the dam, does not matter at this point, even as it leaves me scratching my head.
Does underline what a major shift Cole underwent.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: E.D. Kain?
Barbara
And Max is still gorgeous. I mean, what a handsome pooch. Guts, thick skin, emotional unintelligence, whatever it takes to examine your conscience and do the right thing even if it means changing your mind — it’s hard. I am so grateful to be the beneficiary of that all too rare feat.
itf
Okay, my quick “how I started reading Balloon Juice” story here because it seems apropos.
I was extremely critical of the Iraq war when it started, and even more as the WMDs were (predictably) never found, and at some point I realized everyone I was reading was similarly critical and maybe I should expose myself to other views. So I went on a hunt for bloggers who were supportive of the war so that I could hear arguments from that side.
First I found Andrew Sullivan (yes, I know) but shortly after I started reading him, he changed positions on the war. So I went on the hunt again, and eventually found some guy named John Cole. And shortly after I started reading him, HE switched positions on the war. At which point I gave up and decided anyone still supporting the war at that point had to be a howling lunatic. But somehow I stuck around here (lurking; this is maybe my fourth post ever) for the next sixteen years or so.
Cheers to Tim, Cole, and all the jackals.
Brantl
@gvg: WHICH ONE? I remember him breaking them several times (Peak WingNut, Tire Rims and Anthrax…..)
Jager
When my girls were in grade school, I came home one afternoon to find my wife looking out the window, our Cocker Spaniel was cowering in the corner. In the backyard, my kids were playing with a beautiful Dobie. My wife said, “That dog won’t let me get close to the girl’s and they think it’s funny.” I stepped outside, the Dobie got between me and the kids, daring me to make a move towards them. Long story short, the Doberman escaped from her job as a guard at the Pilgrim Nuclear powerplant and made the 20 odd mile trek to adopt my kids. The dog, her name was LXS, spent the weekend with us, always between us and “her girls”. When the security company picked her up on Monday, the kids were devastated.
Meyerman
Always good to hear from Tim and to see Max again. We have all slowed down a bit. I see nothing wrong with evolving from chasing balls to checking for treats.
scav
@Brantl:
Schiavo was a biggie to my mind. I might have wanderedvover about then.
jnfr
It’s always a good day for Max news and photos!
geg6
MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAX! OMG, I have missed Max! And you, too, Tim! Hope your roads were cleaned off this morning. Mine weren’t. This is what I get for living in Beaver County. PENNDOT barely knows we exist.
skerry
Good to see Max. He’s the same age as my Luke. Slowing down a lot these days but still full of love.
raven
Sidney Poitier, Oscar-winning actor and Hollywood’s first Black movie star, dies at 94
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Something to keep in mind the next time someone want to go on about how conservatives are beyond the pale and unreachable.
Ken
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: That was “conservative” as defined sixteen years ago, although in retrospect it’s clear they haven’t changed that much, they’ve just dropped the mask.
geg6
@Baud:
E.D. Cain. Gawd, he was awful.
raven
@raven: oops, late
p.a.
@WaterGirl: I have a photo of Bob. Click on my nym.
Old School
@Brantl:
The one I recall was John deciding not to just stick his toe in the Democratic positions pool, but to dive in head first. He might have changed his party registration to mark the occasion.
Roonieroo
Miss you very much Tim. Hi Max!
C Stars
I love this post. And I want a doberman. Any idea how they get along with rabbits? ?
Wvng
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Your comment “Something to keep in mind the next time someone want to go on about how conservatives are beyond the pale and unreachable.” Really made me sad because, despite everything, the vast majority of conservatives are unreachable, and more so every year. The scales falling from John’s eyes over Schiavo made me hopeful that the nearly endless insanities on the right would somehow lead to a wholesale movement away from the dark side. But, as Tim so vividly recalls, John always stood apart from most movement conservatives (which he was at the time) by being open to actual debate over actual issues, which made him open to changing his mind.
Last night Tucker Carlson refused to air ANY tape of President Biden’s speech, and said, really, nothing import happened on Jan 6th. That is all most of his listeners will ever choose to hear.
WereBear
Hello Tim F. and Max! In addition to the fine suggestions here about joint health, I would look into gelatin.
My cats, gelatin, and I
trollhattan
Max! Handsome boy is handsome.
Our Rocco has a dobie playmate now, who was adopted after his owners basically gave him up rather than pay the vet to operate and remove an object he’d swallowed.
Very fine people. The vet operated anyway.
The dobie is fine now and has a home where he’s loved unconditionally. He’s Very Large and quite calm. Which is good, because I avoid nervous dobies.
WaterGirl
@p.a.: Is this a trap? :-)
Ken
This may be embarrassing if WaterGirl has invited back some of the old front-pagers for the anniversary.
WaterGirl
@Old School: We have a link to the day John registered as a Democrat.
Taken4Granite
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
More of an illustration of how far people self-identifying as conservative have strayed from the dictionary definition.
It has been building for a long time. In the early 1990s (even before Gingrich and company took over the House of Representatives) a co-worker would emphasize that he was “conservative, not Republican”. That was also the time frame my mother concluded that the Republicans were no longer her father’s Republican Party.
Far too many people either haven’t come to such a realization, or have but are OK with it. For our blogfather, it took the Terry Schiavo nonsense. In Jen Rubin’s case it took the blatant antisemitism of TFG’s crowd. Maybe some others have quietly switched, but it’s a too-small minority of people who have called themselves Republican.
piratedan
@raven: 94 is a pretty good run. From Blackboard Jungle and on, he could take over a scene…. growing up in the 60’s he showed that color could be immaterial in regards to talent. Many of my favorite dramas revolve around his performances.
WereBear
@trollhattan: a fine dobe is a joy forever
Cacti
RIP Sidney Poitier. :-(
WaterGirl
@Ken: I issued an open invitation to all the Past Authors in the first Anniversary Week post on Sunday.
I don’t know if any of them read the post, but I would hope there was some mention of the Balloon Juice 20th anniversary on some of the other long-time blogs like LGM and others.
So I would hope that the word has spread.
I know some of you guys follow Soonergrunt, and i really hope he would come by for a guest post and let us know what he has been up to, No nibbles so far.
MazeDancer
Loved your favorite post.
If only Andrew Cotter could read it.
mvr
@Old School: I have a super clear memory of John deciding to go down to switch to independent but then going whole hog once he got to the office and registering as a Dem. Or that is what I recall him telling us. You could fact check me and thereby also help me figure out how long I have been here as that was pretty long after I started lurking. First post I have found for myself is Feb 2009.
And while I’m at it, Tim it is good to hear from you!
Cacti
@piratedan: A Patch of Blue will always be my favorite Poitier film. An interracial love film in 1965 is as bold as it gets.
sab
Did hilzoy ever get a dog and, if so, what was it.
Old School
@mvr: Sounds like WaterGirl has that post lined up for a Classics post at some time. She can find your first post as well if you find that thread soon after it goes up.
mvr
@piratedan: Remember going to see Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner w my parents in the 60s in a theater. And seeing To Sir With Love on TV in a motel room outside Detroit when my Dad and a friend of mine went to the Ford Museum during the “energy crisis” when gas prices spiked all the way up to prices much lower than we are now used to.
WaterGirl
@sab: That is a great question, but I would like to know, too.
She is on twitter… if anyone follows her you should tweet and ask her.
WaterGirl
@Old School: Yep. Just one more anniversary post – some time this evening.
edit: unless more of the current front-pagers have anniversary posts planned. I am pretty sure that Tom is working on one, and possibly others are, too.
The Moar You Know
Dogs are infinitely wonderful and tragic. Thanks, Tim. That’s all I’ve got.
WaterGirl
@Old School: Someone actually went to the Past Authors page, and looked at it. Yay!
I thought maybe I had done all that work for nothing. :-)
mvr
@Old School:
@Old School:
Thanks for the tip! I can never get my timing right for that so I used Google to find the 2009 post, though my memory would swear I occasionally posted before then. (But I won’t swear to it myself since I don’t trust my memory.) I don’t think I changed nyms since back then I used it on every blog and people who knew me on other blogs would know it was me.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Oh, I’ve searched for context for some of the rotating tags.
I still have no idea what’s up with “should’ve bought more linguine” though.
Omnes Omnibus
@mrmoshpotato: Some questions are best left unanswered. This may be one.
geg6
@Ken:
I told him that to his virtual face long ago.
Elizabelle
@Cacti: I loved “A Patch of Blue” too. The NY Times obit writer called it “mawkish”, but I thought it was interesting as well for the Shelley Winters role — the cruel and uncaring mother; the more kindly but ineffectual grandfather. How often did you see American movies about such dysfunctional white families (that younger viewers were allowed to watch)? The director was British, Guy Green. I think British cinema might have been more realistic with some of their releases in the 50s and early 60s…
Godspeed, Sidney Poitier. We needed him. 94 years of a life well lived, and love and respect during his lifetime.
Alison Rose
@raven: RIP to a legend. Couple passages that struck me from the NYT obit:
WaterGirl
Tim, I love this photo of Max in the post that you linked to.
I love Max so much that i am tearing up just looking at this picture.
Cacti
@Elizabelle: As always, FTNYT. :-)
Ken
“‘The Ultimate Bigfoot’, as it came to be known in Balloon Juice history, was on 7 January 2022…”
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: You nominated that one, so you should know!
edit: In March 2020. I’m going to guess it was Baud
in the library with the knifein a conversation early in the pandemic about how it was hard to find pasta on grocery store shelves.Elizabelle
@Alison Rose: Yes, the barbed wire comment leapt out. It was a very good article, aside from dissing Patch of Blue.
Saved my copy of Poitier’s This Life. About the best autobiography I ever read.
@Cacti: The writer, William Grimes, redeemed himself with the article as a whole. It was comprehensive and he went a lot of places some readers might prefer to gloss over.
The past is never past, and how quickly we can fall if we are not vigilant.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Okay, I just did a search, and I was half right.
Betty Cracker: Plague life: What’s happening?
NotMax
@mvr
Quite a few here old enough to remember when gas pump displays (all mechanical then) had to be replaced in order to add a new slot because there was no way to show a price per gallon above 99.9 cents.
Can definitely recall the metering being adjustable and seeing stations out in the hinterlands or otherwise low down in priority on the list of pumps to be re-outfitted for price which were able to charge by the half gallon.
Chief Oshkosh
Did “Tacitus” ever post over here? God, wattamaroon.
bemused senior
@TaMara (HFG): I can vouch for cbd for pain relief for my cancer pain. Here in California it is easy to get, delivery from the bud bar. I use 4 to 1 cbd because a little thc seems to help me nap. Take a chewable twice a day.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl:
No one listens to me.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose:
Like Barack Obama, Sidney Poitier grew up in a culture that was very different from most of the US. Barack Obama, Hawaii, Sidney Poitier in the Bahamas.
They both thrived. Makes me think of all the people who grew up in the states with all sorts of limitations, with many of them not thriving.
Cacti
@Elizabelle: Didn’t know that A Patch of Blue was directed by a Brit.
Sometimes it takes an outsider to not pull punches about a society’s various dysfunctions.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Because of this?
i don’t think this one would have been better left unanswered. Except for that 4 minutes of my life I will never get back. :-)
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: I think it was better as a mystery. The truth was rather prosaic.
ETA: And you would still have those four minutes.
Anyway
The Iraq war was what firmly turned me from a wishy-washy “pox on both sides” waffler to a never-Rethug to an always-Dem. Took me a few steps but I finally saw the light.
I began to see through the mushy middle during Dubya’s election and the Brooks brothers riots … that started me questioning things. Never going back.
Cacti
Nothing beats a person down like telling them as a child that they’re other and not good enough, and should therefore aim low.
Anyway
@WaterGirl:
Rihanna Barbados
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
MAX! You sweetheart!
Good to hear from you too, Tim.
SFBayAreaGal
@TaMara (HFG): Is the CBD oil injested or rubbed on?
trollhattan
Since Portier is in the discussion, here’s a letter he wrote to FDR courtesy of Letters of Note.
Background.
Ken
@NotMax: That would have been an excellent time to switch to liters.
Matt McIrvin
@Ken: I have dim recollections that some gas stations DID switch to metering gasoline by liters, for that reason. It was a short-lived change.
Elizabelle
We lost Betty White and Sidney Poitier in the same week (OK, maybe 8 days). And somehow, we survive. Glad they both had such good lives.
WaterGirl
@Anyway:
I googled Cat Island and it came up as the Bahamas.
edit: also this from upthread, belatedly:
gene108
OMG! @TimF, the 2005 post is a trip down memory lane about how the world was 16-17 years ago.
You made an interesting point about then relatively unknown new Democratic House and Senate leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid respectively, enforcing a level of party discipline that their predecessors, Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt, did not.
NotMax
Yay (I guess). Post office &8212; I’d like to imagine shamefacedly — quietly sneaked a package* onto the front porch just a bit ago, a few minutes after 8 this morning (normal route delivery is around 2 or 3 in the afternoon).
Prominent “Priority Mail 3-Day” labels on the box. Today is day number 11 since it was mailed out, which may be a new record chez NotMax. From the looks of the outside of the box it has been handled along the way by staffers still in training on use of exoskeleton suits.
;)
*Before anyone jumps to conclusions, no, not from Amazon.
NotMax
@Ken
When first I settled in Hawaii (1983) all gas stations were selling by the liter.
Ken
@Matt McIrvin: Probably best that it didn’t stick, because I’m sure the US would have ended up with fuel efficiency measured in miles per liter, and that would irritate me every time I heard it.
Another Scott
Tim F! Max! It’s great seeing you both. It’s great to see Max doing so well. 12 is amazing – you’ve both done well. :-)
Don’t be a stranger around these parts. Post more often and enjoy the new year, safely.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ken
Shhh! There are people who would take that as further proof that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.
NotMax
@NotMax
Whoops-a-daisy. Em dash fail.
&8212; = —
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
Several days ago, near the end of an early-evening open thread, I put up a link to a friend’s fundraiser .
Vivian is very appreciative of the donations from the folks here who read that and responded, and so am I—but that’s not going to stop me from bringing it up again!
In case you missed my earlier post, her kid K. has been accepted for the spring semester at Outdoor Academy in Pisgah, NC. This is a very cool program and a great opportunity for K.—not only will they have a chance to learn a lot and be exposed to many cool things, it’s something that looks good on a college admissions application.
It is also $10K for a semester, and while they have been able to get a partial scholarship, they have to come up with the rest somehow, before January 22*. They’re now almost halfway to their goal, thanks to many kind people.
This is where I make some inflammatory comments about the way not just race but also class controls people’s access to opportunities. Vivian is a single parent. She’s Black, and she’s worked a lot of retail in recent years—completing her own college coursework has been a struggle between the demands of family obligations and work. She wants her child to have the best opportunities for enrichment she can manage, and the best access to a good education they can possibly have. Like a lot of other people in this country, they find things that look as if they should be accessible based on ability alone are hedged off by obstacles embedded in race and class. It doesn’t matter how inclusive a program says it is, when the price tag is out of reach.
We can push against that—both in big ways and in small ways. Here’s a small way to push back—like tossing the starfish back in the sea—and I hope you all will consider taking a chance on K.
Thanks for your time!
*In my earlier post, January 15 was the deadline, but they’ve postponed things because of COVID.
Brachiator
@Elizabelle:
I noted elsewhere that I saw that character actor Nehemiah Persoff is alive and kicking at age 102.
Sidney Poitier was always one of my favorite actors.
Old Man Shadow
Looking back, it’s hard to believe that I was a pretty solid conservative back then.
I wonder what sort of man I would be today if I hadn’t found my way out.
I’m grateful I did. I suppose I have Bush the Lesser and Wall St. to thank for showing me what a gigantic fraud it all is. Fuck them both forever though.
Another Scott
@mvr:
Say hello to the newest member of the vast left-wing conspiracy (from Halloween 2007).
That came up in a Google search just now – maybe Big G is realizing there’s a need for results older than ~ 2012??
Cheers,
Scott.
Citizen_X
IMANI!
Another Scott
@Another Scott: Whoops. Sorry if I stole your thunder, WG.
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@Brachiator
No longer with us but still the clip remains amusing (check out his comment at around 2:50). Charles Lane at 100.
;)
Citizen Alan
TPM’s coverage of today’s SCOTUS hearings are leaving me in a crushing depression. The fuckers are going to use Covid as a pretext to destroy the regulatory state, just like they are public education.
mvr
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! This fits with my memory of John’s conversion. My memory says that this site kept me sane in the relatively early parts of the war in Iraq during the first Bush term. I remember heading over here at least to read when Kos cited John as one of the relatively sane Republican bloggers and popping in now and again, becoming more regular as John got more sane.
Again, many thanks for that link!
?BillinGlendaleCA
My front neighbors have a Doberman, her name is Bat and she’s about 2 years old. Until you get to know her, she’s quite frightening(barking, showing her teeth…). Madame is still afraid of her, but when I come home from work(breaks mainly), she’ll come out to see Uncle Bill and get some scratches and some pets. She hates when I leave to go inside my place or head back to work and will grab my shirt with her teeth to keep me at their door or follow me and put her nose between my legs to remind me she’s still there.
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus: Oops. It’s “should’ve hoarded more linguine.” Even more potentially disturbing.
Citizen_X
@Another Scott: Wow. Here’s a line from that (from 2007) that is still depressingly true:
Mike in NC
@NotMax: My brother mailed me a small Priority Mail package from Boston. Took about 10 days to get here via Atlanta.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
LOL! I totally don’t remember nominating it!
Another Scott
@NotMax: I remember getting a couple of gallons of gas in Chicago and getting distracted and forgetting that the true price was 2x the pump price. I had to leave my license with the clerk while I drove home and got some more money…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
different-church-lady
@Another Scott:
Ah, the good old days….
Elizabelle
@Brachiator: Be well, Nehemiah Persoff.
Harry Belafonte is 94. He was born on March 1, 1927. Sidney Poitier was born on February 20, 1927.
different-church-lady
@Elizabelle:
Wait, those are different people? [DUCKS]
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Never destined to be a leading man, actor Larry Storch turns 99 tomorrow.
;)
Matt McIrvin
@Ken: I like the way they do it in some other countries, as liters/100km, with lower = better. Better for averaging across fleets and so on, because it makes clear where the biggest advantages can be got– with our measures, a difference of, say, 5 MPG is much more important for an inefficient vehicle than for an efficient one.
gvg
@Brantl: No way before that. I think it was Terry Schivo and there were issues with the Iraq war too. He objected too the GOP’s show off about preventing the courts from removing life support.
Later he went down to change his registration to independent and choose to go democrat instead.
He criticized quite a few of the stupid Republican positions that were all about show how “conservative”and not thoughtful republican. (IMO)
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Freddie!
piratedan
@NotMax: Storch really stole his scenes in The Great Race….
Mike in NC
@NotMax: Loved “F Troop” as a kid. At OCS I was assigned to Foxtrot Company and I had “F Troop” printed on my t-shirt. Pretty much everybody understood what it meant.
billcinsd
So you’re the Juice’s Alan Colmes, nice work if you can get it
Matt McIrvin
@Citizen_X: The last presidential election I can remember that WASN’T generally touted in advance as the most important one of our lifetimes was 2000. And that one might have been.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax: I’ll play: Joyce Randolph is 97 and still with us
persistentillusion
@WaterGirl: I looked as well. Your hard working on this and all the other projects you’ve undertaken is greatly appreciated, by me at least, and I suspect most Jackals.
Martin
Can’t recall when I first joined here, but I’m guessing around 2005 when the Schiavo situation came up and caused Cole to realize what team he was playing for. I too was a Kos migrant. It was a VERY different vibe then. It was a trolling paradise, and this was a fun place to twist the knife. Now it feels like a community.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
You didn’t think that would be an anniversary topic?! Way to go.
Any movie spoilers you’d like to drop while you’re on a roll?
Cheers!
Elizabelle
@NotMax: F Troop, right?
NotMax
@piratedan
Storch playing it to the hilt on Car 54, Where Are You?
;)
Suzanne
Has anyone else been relishing the complete abasement of Ted Cruz? God. Remember when that dude was a presidential contender and now, even to the GOP, he is the most spineless snowflake? Dare I say it, a “Cuck”?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Suzanne:
Heard it was your birthday. Happy Cake Day ?!
Urza
I scrolled through a few comments from your first real post there. Was a guy worried that if fighting terrorists was bipartisan and/or we got help from other countries then we wouldn’t be able to just kill them. We would have to let them have trials and jail time if they did something like use a rocket launcher to take down a plane over France.
That same guy i’m sure is a Covid denier saying its not that likely to kill you.
The conservative sense of what is actually important vs what they laugh off is so messed up. Only way they were caring about Covid is if it did actually come from a lab in China, or the orange one had told them to from the start.
WaterGirl
@Martin: Were you “? Martin” for awhile? Or was that someone else?
Soprano2
Nice to see you, Tim.
I just found out they’re doing the dumbest thing here – they’re going to “spray the building for Covid” every morning between now and the end of January. We have to put all the food stuffs up, and cover the microwaves and coffeemakers. It’s so stupid, that’s not how Covid spreads, idiots. Get everyone N-95 masks, that’ll work a lot better than performative spraying of the building. Sheesh……
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Video:
JMG
@Mike in NC: The scrubs at baseball spring training who go to split squad games have been called “F Troop” for decades, even though all the players have been too young to remember the show since like 1980.
satby
@Another Scott: I remember that thread, though I was a lurker then. Some good discussions back and forth, which used to happen more often but now seems to be a rare occurrence. I think (don’t remember) Anne Laurie wasn’t a front pager yet, and her comment in that thread shows why John invited her on board.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
From the TPM Live Coverage:
So much for the idea that conservative judges have to see the logic in the law
WaterGirl
@Soprano2: Head… desk.
Maybe ventilate the building every morning? That would actually be effective.
Let’s just say that the cream doesn’t always rise to the top in organizations.
mrmoshpotato
@Soprano2:
You get disinfectant! You get disinfectant! Everything gets disinfectant! (except for the dirty ass microwave and coffee makers!)
HinTN
@Another Scott:
Saving the kiss for these very appropriate times!
Ken
Next they’ll be saying that healthcare workers have to wash their hands, and get licenses before they can practice.
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack: Let them fight! (But don’t watch for your own sanity.)
catclub
@geg6:
I miss ABL, she made things lively. Was the heavy drinking australian lady a frontpager?
Urza
@Ken: Conservatives obviously don’t care if their medical experts are licensed, or even read a book.
I wonder if there could be a boom in businesses advertising that they do wash their hands and are vaccinated etc since obviously conservatives would prefer no regulation whatsoever.
The Constitution, and any interpretation thereof is not meant to be a suicide pact.
catclub
Even though Trump said this he did not believe it. he was just throwing out shit to see what stuck. If he HAD believed maybe there would be a vigorous response to acts of war by china. But then he also would have been re-elected, so mixed blessings.
Suzanne
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Well thank you! It’s lacking the drama of last year, which is good!
Brachiator
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Jesus Fucking Christ!
MazeDancer
The good ole boys got life n prison without parole for killing Ahmaud Arbery.
Takes a smidge off the sting of losing Lani Guinier at only 71.
Kristine
Gentle hugs for Max!
Tim F
@billcinsd: @billcinsd: I remember when Colmes convinced Hannity to switch parties. That was great.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Martin had one of the Martian emojis as part of his nym for a long time.
?
Cheers,
Scott.
mvr
@MazeDancer: Lani Guinier? Today? Crap!
She totally got mistreated by everyone, including Bill C, for what was just a perfectly interesting way to think about how different democtratic systems might be more representative than others in response to one of the ways ours is not representative.
That’s a loss of someone who still had things to say.
Super Dave
@Ken:
After all these years, we are still “going metric.” We’re just doing it an inch at a time.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: I was surprised that it came up on Google, being so old. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t.
I’m sure that you have many, many more treats for us. :-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
Glynis Johns is still alive. One of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, she started her film career in 1935.
WaterGirl
@catclub: Are you referring to Sarah, Proud and Tall? She was a he and he was not old – the old lady persona was what s/he used for her writing.
Odie Hugh Manatee
The good thing about being old is still being alive. I’ll take it.
I came over to BJ from the Great Orange Satan when some members there mentioned that TimF (who I enjoyed reading at DK) was posting at a conservative blog. I had to see that and somehow I got stuck here.
It’s all your fault, TimF. Thanks! ?
JimV
I have to say, that is the friendliest-looking Doberman I have ever seen.
Matt McIrvin
@MazeDancer: Lani Guinier, now there was someone who got smeared in an extraordinarily unfair manner. RIP.
J R in WV
OK, Max is beautiful, and I love him even tho I’ve never met him. Thanks for linking to that old 2014 post about him, the best 4 line essay Balloon Juice has ever hosted !!
Now I’ll read the rest of the comments…
OzarkHillbilly
Tim, don’t recall if I have told you this before or not, but have been wanting to say (again?) to you for some time that with these words,
You ruined me. I can not possibly cook a pork tenderloin in any other fashion. Every time I find a recipe I think might be interesting to try, I get the tenderloin out and then…
I can’t. I just can’t. How does one improve on perfection? And why would one even try?
So I pull the Better than Bullion out of the fridge and…
Mary G
I am so glad to see Max! (Oh, and of course you, too, Tom.)//
MazeDancer
@Matt McIrvin: Multi party smearing. And abandoned by Clinton.
Wonder if there was something about her that was triggering. Beyond her being a brilliant woman.
MazeDancer
@mvr: The testimonies to Lani’s teaching skills and brilliance on Twitter have been heartfelt and dazzling.
J R in WV
@Tim F:
Switch parties? From out and out Nazi partie to Republican? He couldn’t have been a Democrat, could he?? Now I are cornfuzed.
Yutsano
MAXPUPPEH!!!
I mean hi Tim F and all but…
MAXPUPPEH!!!
So…how did I end up here?
Way back in July 2008 I had gotten a job after being told I would never work again, never walk again, and never drive again* in November 2005. Because I was a mid-shift worker, there was a lot of downtime starting around 6pm. We often had side websites that we could play around on. Way back in the day Time had side articles that people could comment on. One of those commenters was some bloke named pourmecoffee (how’s that for a blast from the past?) who kept nudging me towards this site called Balloon Juice. So I took a few peeks but stuck with Time for a while. But I kept drifting back over here and finally had the courage to comment. Lord that was almost 13 years ago! Where does the time go?
Genine
I can’t believe Max is twelve years old! I remember when you first got him and he was a mere pup. Wow, children, and people who blog about their pets, can really make you feel your mortality.
sherparick
Max, such a good dog. Best wishes for the New Year. I feeling my age already, as familiar figures I once thought of as “young” are passing away in old age, like Sidney Poitier and Peter Bogdanovich.